DNA 19 JULY

Aadhaar: 9-judge Bench to consider whether privacy is a basic right 

• A nine-judge Bench of the Supreme Court will hear the question whether privacy is a fundamental human right and is part of the basic structure of the Constitution.
• The decision taken by a five-judge Constitution Bench led by Chief Justice Khehar is on the basis of a bunch of petitions contending that the Aadhaar scheme, is a violation of the citizens' right to privacy.
• The petitioners have argued that right to privacy is part of Article 21, the right to life, and interspersed in Article 19, though not explicitly stated in the Constitution.
• Two judgments of the Supreme Court — the M.P. Sharma case verdict pronounced by an eight-judge Bench in 1954 shortly after the Constitution came into force in 1950 and the Kharak Singh case verdict of 1962 by a six-judge Bench — had dominated the judicial dialogue on privacy since Independence. 
• Both judgments had concluded that privacy was not a fundamental or ‘guaranteed’ right
• Though smaller Supreme Court Benches have, over the years, differed and held that privacy is indeed basic to our Constitution and a fundamental right, the arithmetical supremacy of the MP Sharma and Kharak Singh cases continues to hold fort.

Taking a final call

• Now, by forming a Bench of nine judges, Chief Justice Khehar's Supreme Court has decided to determine once and for all whether privacy is negotiable or not.
• We have to first determine whether right to privacy is a fundamental right or not before going into the issue (on the constitutionality of the Aadhaar scheme)
• “In a Republic founded on a written Constitution, it is difficult to accept there is no fundamental right to privacy.
• There is a battery of judgments saying privacy is a fundamental right, we cannot ignore them

‘Cauvery Tribunal order is like ordering god to send rain’ 

Argument made by Karnataka in Supreme Court:

       1.Take Groundwater into Account :The tribunal’s order to Karnataka to supply 192 

          tmcft annually was without any regard to the 30 tmcft groundwater available in 

          Tamil Nadu. 

       2.Equity among farming families: Karnataka has argued that the water-sharing 

           arrangement decided by the tribunal did not keep in view equity as also the farming                families 

       3.Increase in farming area in Tamilnadu : It said that at the time of the 1924 

          agreement for water-sharing, Tamil Nadu was entitled to develop only 21.38 lakh           

          acres for irrigation. However, even as the 1924 agreement continued, the State had 

          developed 28.2 lakh acres for irrigation utilising 566 tmcft of Cauvery water

Solution proposed by the Karnataka

The “real shares” of each riparian State should be determined on the basis of needs by taking into account : 

                [1]The contribution of water by each State to the river valley

                [2]The population of each State in the basin depending upon the waters 

                                      and 

                [3]The culturable area of each State in the basin requiring application of water to                           raise crops. 

SC nod for new MCI oversight panel

The Supreme Court on Monday agreed with the government’s proposal of five eminent medical practitioners to oversee the functioning and decisions of the Medical Council of India

Medical Council of India (estd. in 1934 under MCI Act 1933)is a statutory body (formed by an act of parliament) aimed to protect and promote the health and safety of the public by ensuring proper standards in the practice of medicine.

The objectives of the Council are as follows:-
1. Maintenance of uniform standards of medical education, both undergraduate and postgraduate.
2. Recommendation for recognition/de-recognition of medical qualifications of medical institutions of India or foreign countries.
3. Permanent registration/provisional registration of doctors with recognized medical qualifications.
4. Reciprocity with foreign countries in the matter of mutual recognition of medical qualifications.

States can enact laws to preserve cattle: Centre 

• The State legislatures have “exclusive” powers to enact laws for the preservation of cattle, the Union government told the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday. It was in response to a question on what it proposed to do in response to the Rajasthan High Court’s suggestion to declare cow a national animal. 
• “Under the distribution of legislative powers between the Union of India and the states under Article 246(3) of the Constitution, the preservation of cattle is a matter on which the legislature of the States have exclusive powers to legislate,”
• At present,there are 62 subjects in the state list compare to 66 at the enactment of the constitution .

Nagaland CM to face trust vote today 

• Nagaland Chief Minister Shurhozelie Liezietsu will face a floor test at a special session of the Assembly on Wednesday after the Gauhati High Court on Tuesday dismissed his plea to stay the Governor’s order directing him to seek a trust vote
• It said the process of by-election Mr. Liezietsu is contesting ,is already underway and therefore it was "imperative & incumbent "upon the Governor to call upon the petitioner to prove his majority on the floor of the house only pursuant to the by-election where the petitioner is a candidate
• His plea before the high court was :There was no recommendation from the Council of Ministers for the floor test and the Governor on his own choose to "impose" the impugned decision upon the petitioner " without any legal foundation and against constitutional norms.

Article 163 in the constitution of India 
163 
1.The Council of Ministers to aid and advice governor:There shall be a council of minister with the chief minister at the head to aid and advise the Governor in the exercise of his functions except in so far as he is by or under this constitution required to exercise his functions or any of them in his discretion

DGCA braces for ICAO safety audit

• The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) is bracing for a safety oversight audit by the U.N. body, International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), in November 2017.
• The aviation regulator is taking a series of steps to save it from the embarrassment of the 2012 audit in which the ICAO had raised safety concerns about India's aviation system.
• The DGCA will be furnishing its response to the detailed protocol questionnaire posed by ICAO for its Universal Safety Oversight Audit Programme (USOAP) by August first week
• The measures include hiring flight operation inspectors, aligning its rules with ICAO norms, certifying flight examiners, among others.
• To make the posts of flight operation inspectors attractive for experienced pilots, the DGCA offered them market-linked salary.
• The aviation regulator has been holding review meetings with airlines and airports every month for safety compliance.
• The ICAO conducts audit in areas related to legislation, organisation, licensing, operation, airworthiness, accident investigation, air navigation and aerodromes.

ICAO

DGCA

Australia for ‘peaceful’ end to standoff

Australia’s position is that any territorial disputes should be resolved peacefully between the claimant countries

Distinguishing between land boundary disputes and the maritime disputes China has with countries in the South China Sea, through which two-thirds of Australia’s trade passes.
In the case of maritime disputes,  it should be subjected to arbitration under UNCLOS, if necessary. Land disputes should be resolved peacefully between the competing claimants

India set to extradite Bangladeshi to Britain 

India is set to extradite a Bangladeshi national, Mohammad Abdul Shakur, to the U.K., where he is accused of murdering his wife and children 10 years ago. This development is seen as another signal of increasing cooperation between the two nations on sensitive, and potentially thorny issues in the Home Affairs arena
 Shakur’s extradition was recommended by a New Delhi court in 2013, but a case against him filed in India meant that he remained in the country. However, India has now agreed to drop the case against him, and return him to Britain

The movement on these two cases[Shakur's and Vijay Mallya's]  is a sign that the India-UK Extradition Treaty, which has been in place since 1992 is sufficient to deliver the kind of cooperation the two nations have sought, particularly with political backing. 

Must Read:India-UK Home Dialogue

Delhi, Kabul discuss ‘common regional threats’ 

• External Affairs Minister discussed the “common regional threat” with her Afghan counterpart, Salahuddin Rabbani, on Monday. 
• The discussion is significant as it comes in the backdrop of an ongoing review of Afghanistan policy by the U.S. government which appears to lean on Pakistan in shaping the future of Afghanistan
• iew for Afghanistan. In a recent media interaction, U.S. Secretary of Defence James Mattis acknowledged that the regional context of the Afghan crisis makes the policy review difficult as it needs to take Pakistan into consideration. 
• The problem of this approach includes bilateral problems that Afghanistan and India have with Pakistan

Reluctant Trump recerties Iran deal

Background:Former US President along with other P5+1 leaders signed a nuclear deal with Iran in Oct 2015.

• U.S. President Donald Trump agreed on Monday to certify again that Iran is complying with an international nuclear agreement that he has strongly criticised
• The decision was the second time his administration certified Iran’s compliance, and aides said a frustrated Mr. Trump had told his security team that he would not keep doing so indefinitely 
• Administration officials announced the certification while emphasising that they intended to toughen enforcement of the deal, apply new sanctions on Iran for its “support of terrorism” and other “destabilising activities”, and negotiate with European partners to craft a broader strategy to increase pressure on Tehran
• By law, the administration is required to notify Congress every 90 days whether Iran is living up to the deal, which limited its nuclear programme in exchange for the lifting of many international sanctions

U.S. announces new sanctions

• US Administration unveiled new economic sanctions against Iran over its ballistic missile programme and for contributing to regional tensions, one day after warning Tehran that it was not following the spirit of its nuclear agreement with world powers
• The U.S. Department of Treasury, in a statement, said it was targeting 16 entities and individuals for supporting what is said was “illicit Iranian actors or transnational criminal activity”
• Those sanctioned had backed Iran’s military or the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps by developing drones and military equipment 

Iran's Response:Majlis says it will fight U.S. ‘adventurism

• Iran’s Parliament, known as Majlis, voted on Tuesday to urgently work towards increasing funds for the country’s missile programme and Revolutionary Guards in response to Washington's “adventurism” in the region 

E-commerce: RCEP nations talk details 

Sixteen Asia Pacific nations, including India, are understood to be discussing in detail norms on e-commerce as part of negotiations on the proposed mega Free Trade Agreement known as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).
Technical level talks of the RCEP are being held from July 18 to 28 in Hyderabad
India has been opposing binding norms on opening up the e-commerce sector at the level of RCEP as well as the global level (WTO) talks on grounds including that it (India) is yet to have a comprehensive national policy on the topic
However, it is understood that many RCEP nations including Australia, Japan and China, are pushing for inclusion of a host of elements for ‘Terms Of Reference’ for RCEP negotiations concerning e-commerce.
 This is with a view to have some binding commitments from the RCEP members on liberalising e-commerce and ensure that the final pact has a separate chapter on e-commerce

Developing Countries including India ,should be wary of:

1.Demands for absolute prohibition on disclosure of ‘source code’ (code behind the software) because lack of access to ‘source code’ will make it tough to prevent anti-competitive practices, hacking and rights violation
2.Demands for prohibition of ‘data localisation’ saying accepting such demands will lead to difficulties in ensuring regulatory control over e-commerce firms